'66 Thunderbird Kustom

[customline]

I knew better. But I was curious. I grabbed the box off the shelf and I was just going to look at.....couldn't stop. Here's where I'm at. I was missing the tail light lens. I noticed that the custom parts in the kit are actually pretty cool, not like that weird asymmetric nonsense in the '63 Impala kit.  I had to just check this and that and 6 hours later

[customline]

I shaved the badges and handles. Corrected some agregious mold mess-ups on the rear quarters, replaced a vent window pillar, installed the custom rear panel, the custom grille surround  and added to the bottom for a full rolled pan (not fun). The custom surround is a little too wide and I didn't want to narrow it, nope, not a chance.  Added some scrap .010 sheet to the front wheel openings as a dam for the filler and to hide the ends of the added panels.  I applied Bondo to make it all work.  Sand, repeat. The thing that worries me is losing the character line at the front between the wheel opening and the end. The necessary filling results in a different, flatter angle. 

I Installed the firewall( YAY! A FIREWALL!)  Had to trim the front of the chassis to clear the added stuff in the front. I did the mock-up with the tires that were in the box. They are L60 15 Goodyears. I need to look for a better set and some "fitting" rims. Keystones or Cragar S/S. If I can find 'em.  It will be a street custom. Thinking about making the vinyl top smooth and shiny. My mother's car had a vinyl top. Not my cool street custom. 😕    Although....if I make it a white vinyl top....with a white interior......I dunno, your ideas are as good as mine. In my mind I'm seeing a very dark blue metallic with a white vinyl roof and landau irons (and regretting it) I guess it could work. 😏

 

[bisc63]

Cool stuff. I think this is a perfect candidate for customizing, it has some great body lines, and the included customizing pieces are pretty nice. Not a big fan of white interiors myself, but it's your car! I'd likely go dark blue metallic/pearl exterior with silvery-blue pearl interior with dark blue carpet. I'd lose the top altogether, but if you want a top, how about ditching the vent windows and doing a "gentleman's chop"?  For the grille, I think the tube grille insert would look so much better if you cut out the center of the grille and sink the chrome back in further. OR, just chrome paint/ black wash  the grille mesh detail and go with that instead. (?) I'd smooth the hood, maybe just put a small peak down the center; there's something distracting about the "beak", looks "Pontiac-ish". Just throwing out ideas; after all, it's a custom! Looking forward to seeing YOUR ideas implemented!

[Kah puts]

I agree matching the grill with the rear taillight treatment would work well together and losing the Pontiac peak too, maybe those square headlights that come with the kit or full clear tinted headlight covers with lines like the 65 or 66 Imperial’s would be cool.

But I like where you’re going so far, customs are so personal you gotta with what inspires you 😎

[customline]

11 hours ago, bisc63 said:

Cool stuff. I think this is a perfect candidate for customizing, it has some great body lines, and the included customizing pieces are pretty nice. Not a big fan of white interiors myself, but it's your car! I'd likely go dark blue metallic/pearl exterior with silvery-blue pearl interior with dark blue carpet. I'd lose the top altogether, but if you want a top, how about ditching the vent windows and doing a "gentleman's chop"?  For the grille, I think the tube grille insert would look so much better if you cut out the center of the grille and sink the chrome back in further. OR, just chrome paint/ black wash  the grille mesh detail and go with that instead. (?) I'd smooth the hood, maybe just put a small peak down the center; there's something distracting about the "beak", looks "Pontiac-ish". Just throwing out ideas; after all, it's a custom! Looking forward to seeing YOUR ideas implemented!

 

5 hours ago, Kah puts said:

I agree matching the grill with the rear taillight treatment would work well together and losing the Pontiac peak too, maybe those square headlights that come with the kit or full clear tinted headlight covers with lines like the 65 or 66 Imperial’s would be cool.

But I like where you’re going so far, customs are so personal you gotta with what inspires you 😎

Rusty, I think you are right about the grille. It needs frenching a bit. I shall investigate that possibility as soon as I get off my a$$. I wanted to foil the mesh and black wash it but I feel like the tail lights needed the same treatment so I'm sticking with the tubes, front and rear.  I'm not sure about paint yet but I have a lot of paint to look at. Candy from Alclad II, Createx iridescent, Testors rattle cans, Boyd's, etc. I'll find something. As far as the roof goes, I like it but it appears to be slightly out of shape. I wish I had a soft top for it. I may use the stock hood, that custom hood doesn't work for me either. Besides, the scoop on the stock hood says "Thunderbird" pretty loud. I filled the fender ornament holes (almost missed that.).

Glen, I really did think about headlight covers. I don't think I can pull it off cleanly. It's just too small an area,for me, to execute that sort of thing. Too bad the designer of the custom parts didn't think of it. I will go with the ones he did give me, the rectangular Cebie units.  It's bad enough I had to use filler in the headlight recesses. The fit of the custom surround was less than ideal and I didn't get a real good install. But I love working in the body shop! 

Thank for your great ideas, gentlemen!  

[customline]

Rusty thought I should "french" the tube grille.  OK, y'all don't think I listen to y'all's ideas, do ya?   Well... I do when I think you're right 🥴.  This is a home run for Rusty. And I caught the ball!

[mrm]

Very nice work. Looks better this way. 

[bisc63]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:09 PM, customline said:

..I dunno, your ideas are as good as mine.

Your words!😁 That grille is going to look good once a black wash hits it.

Edited May 29, 2023 by bisc63
typo

[customline]

2 hours ago, bisc63 said:

Your words!😁 That grille is going to look good once a black wash hits it.

Yeah, now I'm pondering how to deal with the dash/console/ interior trim.  I gotta make this

Look like this

It's not gonna be fun 🥺.

[Kah puts]

No problem, you've got the chops for that 👍

[Ace-Garageguy]

Like what you're doing.  

[bisc63]

18 hours ago, customline said:

I gotta make this...look like this...

Why? It's a CUSTOM! You could back fit a dash from the much crisper AMT '62 T-bird, or go full custom and use the custom podded dash from AMT's 58 Impala,  or whatever else suits your vision...

[customline]

1 hour ago, bisc63 said:

Why? It's a CUSTOM! You could back fit a dash from the much crisper AMT '62 T-bird, or go full custom and use the custom podded dash from AMT's 58 Impala,  or whatever else suits your vision...

Yeah, I suppose..... my bash stash isn't that extensive, Rusty. I like the way the dash flows into the console so I want to keep that. I just won't be able to be anal about the detailing of the dash. I added some .010 sheet to the backs of the buckets in order to accommodate the metal trim. My thinking (at the moment at least) is an oxblood interior using Krylon "burgundy" over black. It will show off the chrome better than the white I had planned earlier. 

I added some "sheet metal" to form some sort of radiator support to hide the screw bosses. The radiator provided in the kit seems a bit short. 😳.  Anyway, I got the body in primer so I can clean up the body work.  The engine is now Ford blue but not all together yet.  Got the grille and tail lights prepped. I am considering smoothing out the roof; I don't think the vinyl roof would look good on this one.  Comments welcome...Thanks for your interest.

 

[customline]

How about a roof swap? 😅 . a fast roof would be cool but not that one 😖

[Mr. Metallic]

Digging your mods so far, especially the grill. Is this the most recent reissue of this kit that just came out recently? If so would you be willing to part with the tonneu cover? I have a late 60's edition of the kit and i want to build it as a custom too, but no roof, and mine doesn't have the tonneu. I suppose I could use the 62 tonneu, but there are several differences.

PM me if you are interested. Either way I'll be following along because this is just cool.

[Calb56]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:21 PM, customline said:

How about a roof swap? 😅 . a fast roof would be cool but not that one 😖

I almost like that... almost.

[customline]

2 hours ago, Calb56 said:

I almost like that... almost.

That's what I'm sayin' 😕. I dunno, this pic looks like a composite, not a real car. 🤔  the mustang roof is way too recognizable as a mustang roof. It just doesn't work as an improvement over the crisp, sculpted t-bird styling. Maybe, maybe.....the Shelby roof with the glass instead of the phony vents would work better but I won't cut up a perfectly good mustang to try it. But hey, I'm always looking for good ideas, even not-so-good ones like this 🙂.

[mrm]

This thing is getting cooler and cooler. I really appreciate watching your work. 

[customline]

1 hour ago, mrm said:

This thing is getting cooler and cooler. I really appreciate watching your work. 

Thanks, Michael..... but you may have missed something ☺️.

[Can-Con]

2 hours ago, customline said:

That's what I'm sayin' 😕. I dunno, this pic looks like a composite, not a real car. 🤔  the mustang roof is way too recognizable as a mustang roof. It just doesn't work as an improvement over the crisp, sculpted t-bird styling. Maybe, maybe.....the Shelby roof with the glass instead of the phony vents would work better but I won't cut up a perfectly good mustang to try it. But hey, I'm always looking for good ideas, even not-so-good ones like this 🙂.

How about a '69 Torino fastback [Sportback] roof?

[customline]

21 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

How about a '69 Torino fastback [Sportback] roof?

I knew it! Roof swaps are the new big thing! 😅  Torino, huh? ( I already thought of that one, Steve).  I'm drawn to the '70 Imala.  it's a bit long and wide for the 'Bird but I think it would work esthetically. Just a little minor surgery is needed 🤓. I really like that roof but it does look good on the Impala. 🤷‍♂️. What about a later mustang like a '69/'70 ? That's a great roof! Right?

 

 

 

[mrm]

2 hours ago, customline said:

Thanks, Michael..... but you may have missed something ☺️.

Ver very possible. Would you give me a hint?

[customline]

28 minutes ago, mrm said:

Ver very possible. Would you give me a hint?

Your timing would seem to indicate your comments referred to the car with the mustang roof which was just a picture I found on the web and has no connection to my build. If I am mistaken about this you have my apology. My build threads often run off on tangents and I thought you had become a victim of it.

Edited June 2, 2023 by customline

[mrm]

11 hours ago, customline said:

Your timing would seem to indicate your comments referred to the car with the mustang roof which was just a picture I found on the web and has no connection to my build. If I am mistaken about this you have my apology. My build threads often run off on tangents and I thought you had become a victim of it.

I see now. My comment had nothing to do with the picture of the car with the ‘Stang roof. I was commenting your progress on the model. Perhaps I should start using the “quote “ button more often. 

[customline]

11 hours ago, mrm said:

I see now. My comment had nothing to do with the picture of the car with the ‘Stang roof. I was commenting your progress on the model. Perhaps I should start using the “quote “ button more often. 

It's all good, Mike, I appreciate your interest. I just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Very often I will just buzz through a thread that catches my fancy and not read everything. I guess I was projecting. My bad.  💩

Basically, this is a straight out of the box build of a kit I "won" on flea bay (and paid too much for). A few things were missing which included the tail light lens. I didn't want to pay $6 + $5 shipping for a little piece of red clear plastic that could have been sent for less than a buck, so I figured I would just build the custom version.  The custom junk in this kit is kinda cool. The kit's custom wheels, though, don't work for a customized Thunderbird. They would look better on an F-250.  I can't imagine what they were thinking. I found some mags in the '41 woody kit (a really cool kit but I've cannibalized it something awful). Not the greatest, (I may keep looking) but they're workable. No decision on the skirts yet nor paint scheme. I got it in primer that seems reluctant to dry and I have some clean-up to do on the body work. The floor pan/chassis has a nice bow, down in the middle,that prevents me from getting a clean mock-up to illustrate the low stance. It shows a bit high in front, presently.  Its pretty flexible though,so it should be fine once I push it up and glue it to the installed interior bucket. There should be more in a few days. Thanks for looking in. 🥸